


One and Only

by sharkbuddie



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Fluff and Angst, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Ownership, noncanon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:27:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24534562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkbuddie/pseuds/sharkbuddie
Summary: Zuko and Sokka have a heart to heart.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 211





	One and Only

**Author's Note:**

> hi im gay and wrote this at 1 am dont judge me. also this is a very non-canon timeline i might use again? who knows! enjoy the content and happy pride month! also i was listening to 'seven league boots' by zoe keating while i wrote this!

The ocean seemed endless, stretching its dark waters for miles and miles, seeming to engulf the entire world beyond the shore upon which a young man stood. There was a breeze that whistled through the leaves of the trees beyond the beach, and it carried the heavy smell of the ocean along with light tinges of flowers with it. The sand here was stark white, and seemed to cast a glow with the moon shining lovingly above it. It was the perfect night by all accounts - and yet, a young prince found himself troubled, nevertheless. 

The young man - or, young prince, as he had once been called - was tall. He was broad, and anyone could tell even in darkness that he had been built from the ground up to be a warrior. His clothes were plain, though, colored with dull greys and earthy browns. His hair was an unkempt mess. The posture he kept, with his wrist held in one hand behind his back, gave away his nasty secret - that secret, of course, being that he was afraid. He had felt this many times in his short life. Fear was what he had been taught to rule with and to obey, and yet...it felt so shameful to have a pit in his stomach and an invisible thread around his throat. He was no longer Prince Zuko, firstborn of the Firelord, heir to the throne. He was just Zuko, the traitor. The scarred one. The greatest embarrassment to ever blemish the grand bloodline of the many great Firelords before him. He told himself it didn’t matter anymore - the throne, his family, his country, the war...but he was lying to himself. He felt even more shame for that. 

He was startled by movement in the brush behind him, and quickly took a fighting stance - only to regain his composure when he saw it was nobody other than Sokka. The shadows of the trees and brush concealed him almost entirely until he stepped out onto the sand. He was dressed modestly, though his clothes retained the vibrant blues from his heritage. His clothes were simple and airy, giving him mobility, which Zuko admired. They had known each other for a long time now. The war had been raging for a long time now. They were the same age - 18. Still dumb children, though now it was expected that they be men.

They both felt the weight on their shoulders. They were no Firelord, nor were they the Avatar, and yet…

“Hey,” Sokka said flatly. He yawned, raising his arms up to stretch above his head. Zuko caught a glimpse of Sokka’s tummy when his shirt raised, and he chided himself for looking. He turned to face the water again. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“No,” Zuko replied flatly. He felt the fatigue of not sleeping in his bones, but what could he do? His uncle had always told him the mind and the body were not always in agreement. Thinking on that added a splash of sadness to his already troubled mind.

Sokka stood next to him. 

The pair stared out at that endless ocean, and for a moment shared a common feeling of exhaustion and anxiety. They had to be the men. They had to be unbreakable. They had to be…

“Nice night.” 

Zuko hummed at the interjection. He had been taught from a young age to leave silence alone if you had nothing constructive to disperse it. Yet, he always admired when Sokka tried to dismantle it. 

“I guess.”

Their history was long. Long, and very odd. The Firelord had taken Ba Sing Se ages ago, and set about a new world order where all were subservient to the Fire Nation. Zuko had been allowed back into the family because his father wanted to prove to his new subjects he could be merciful, if they were cooperative. Sokka had been stolen from his family and given to Zuko as a servant during the monthly tithe. Zuko hated the tithe - stealing from people who had nothing...it wasn’t what he wanted. It was a disgrace to the Fire Nation and all it had once stood for. Iroh had washed his hands of it and left, and now Zuko had no idea where he was. Zuko and Sokka had ended up very close during their time together, and Sokka was the whole reason he had defected from the Fire Nation and joined Sokka’s sister ( who had never stopped looking for him ) and the Avatar. The world was a different and ugly place with Firelord Ozai being in control, but there was still hope. 

“So…”

Heaven help him. 

Zuko didn’t want to hear what Sokka had to say. It had been a while since they’d been alone, and even longer since they had acknowledged anything that had happened before Zuko left with him. The idea of thinking about it, let alone talking about it, made his head throb.  
“So…?” 

Sokka crossed his arms over his chest, then raised one to twist in his ear. “Are we ever going to talk about what happened before all this, or…?”

Zuko kicked a tuft of sand. It plopped into the surf. “If you insist.”

Sokka scrunched up his nose, “You make it sound like you hate me or something. You know, I’m probably your only friend out here -”

Zuko looked at him sharply. Under the moon, he looked almost dragon-like. Smoke twisted out of his nostrils. “Of course I don’t hate you. It’s just...very complicated.”

“Yeah? So we should talk about it. Make it uncomplicated.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple, Sokka,” Zuko said through a sigh. The brief moment of anger that came over him was extinguished almost as quickly as it had flared up. He held his own arms. “A lot has happened.”

Sokka paused for a moment, then gently rested a hand on Zuko’s shoulder. He tensed, but did not shirk away. There was an unspoken truth between them that he was one of only two people who could touch Zuko. He was endlessly skittish and had been very afraid of touch his whole life. The only person who ever had a kind hand for him as a child had been his mother, and, well..

“Well, yeah. But I know it hasn’t really changed how I feel about things.”

Zuko felt his stomach knot. Another unspoken truth had been uttered just then, and it was one he wasn’t ready to deal with. Sokka had been raised on a diet of love and tenderness; his tribe, from what he understood, was very supportive of its people. They were taught to love freely and value one another. 

Ozai had had many different lessons for Zuko. 

“We aren’t behind palace walls anymore, Sokka.”

“Does that matter?”

“Of course it does!”  
He turned sharply. Sokka recoiled, and in seeing that, Zuko immediately softened. His head hurt. 

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay - I know things are...weird for you…”

Sokka rubbed the back of his neck. Zuko’s lips turned into a thin frown. He hadn’t meant to upset him…

“Maybe I should head back to camp.”

Zuko considered being silent and allowing him to do so, but as soon as Sokka turned to leave, he grasped his wrist tightly. He pulled Sokka back, and up to his chest. Their faces were mere inches apart, only kept away by the few inches Zuko had on him. The breeze suddenly felt insufficient to keep the heat at bay. Even at night, Zuko felt like he would melt on this beach.

“Your face is red,” Sokka said softly. Perhaps it was not the heat of the night, but rather…

“So is yours,” Zuko said indignantly. He still held Sokka’s wrist. “I…”

He didn’t know what to say. Sensing this, Sokka spoke for him by inching just a little closer. 

Zuko met him halfway, and they had the most delicate kiss either of them had ever experienced. They sank into it, and Zuko dropped Sokka’s wrist in favor of cradling his sharp cheeks. Sokka weaved his arms around Zuko’s waist. Indeed, Zuko always ran hot, but it felt even more so now. But it was pleasant. It reminded Sokka of several nights spent quietly observing the prince while he slept, or days spent hidden away together in a stream, wearing next to nothing and playing in the water. 

They broke after a moment or two, and looked at one another. Sokka was smiling dumbly, while Zuko looked...afraid. 

“You okay?”

“I...yeah, I just...we never…”

“Kissed for that long? Yeah - I know. We _reeeeeeaally_ should have done that sooner.”

Zuko sputtered for words, which Sokka quickly laughed at. 

Even as Zuko raised his voice to chide Sokka for being an idiot, the world fell into a sleepy lull, with only the orchestra of the wind in the leaves and the insects in the brush left talking.


End file.
